The 5th Army was established on 25 August 1939 in
Wehrkreis VI with General
Curt Liebmann in command. Responsible for the defense of the
Siegfried Line in the vicinity of
Trier as part of
Army Group C from 3 September, the army was assigned the
Eifel Border Troops (
86th,
Trier Border,
26th, and
227th Divisions) and the
VI Army Corps (
16th,
69th,
211th, and
216th Infantry Divisions). It also included the
58th,
87th,
78th, and
268th Infantry Divisions in army reserve. During this period, known as the
Phoney War, no action took place on its sector of the Siegfried Line. On 13 October it was transferred to the east as Border Section Centre High Command (
Oberkommando Grenzabschnitt Mitte). The latter served as a security force in occupied Poland. On 4 November 1939 it was renamed the
18th Army. ==Commanders==